All posts tagged: GMAT Test Structure

As mentioned in this post, the first step of your GMAT Prep begins with taking a Diagnostic Test. This need not be a computer adaptive test, the paper-based Diagnostic Test on the OG will suffice. A few rules that need to be followed while taking the test: • Take the test when you are fresh so that you can get the most accurate measure of your competence; you should not have anything other than your own ability to attribute a sub-par performance to. • The test can be taken either as two sections – Quant and Verbal with any length of break in between (even a day or two) – or as five question-types (PS, DS, RC, CR & SC). • Do not break the test either in the middle of a section or in the middle of a question-type. Your performance across five categories will be categorized as shown in the table below. Before we approximate this performance to a score on the 800-scale we have to take a few things into consideration that …

All life is an experiment, the more experiments you make the better – Ralph Waldo Emerson The short answer to this question — yes. Now let’s get to the long answer. As we have discussed before in one of the earliest posts on this blog, the GMAT is an adaptive test. The Quant and Verbal sections will start with test-takers being posed a question of moderate difficulty and will proceed based on the test-taker’s response to that question. Depending upon whether the test-taker answers it correctly or incorrectly, the subsequent question will be easier or tougher.

The best way to start is to have a look at what your actual Official GMAT Score Report will look like. The image below is of only a part of the Score Report, so that we do not divulge the details of the test-taker. The Verbal & Quant Scores have a range from 0 – 60 but the actual range of scores that test-takers get is narrower. The actual range of scores is from 9 to 44 for the Verbal section with 45 being rare and 7 to 50 for the Quantitative section, with 51 being rare (though not at the IIT close to where I stay ☺).

What do they know of cricket who only cricket know — from Beyond A Boundary by C. L. R. James While the GMAT structure is quite well known to most test-takers there is much more to the test than meets the eye. Let us try to understand this a bit better since understanding the nature of the test will really help you get the right perspective for your preparation and practice with the right purpose. What you get when you pay $250 to take the GMAT What you get is a statistically valid and universally understood measure of your aptitude (as defined by the GMAC, an association of business schools) for doing a business course. If you take the test today in India and score a 720 and 4 years later someone takes the test in China and scores a 720, schools will accept both of you as having the same aptitude — the 94th percentile. The scores and percentiles have barely changed over all of these years since about 2,50,000 people take the test …